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| “ | Your constant "or elses" have grown tedious. Hasn't anyone told you that threats lose their impact when so often repeated, without ever actually acting on one of them? | „ |
| ~ Bluebeard antagonizing Bigby |
Bluebeard is a wealthy human Fable and a brutal sadist who lives in Fabletown in New York City. He has a goblin butler named Hobbes.
History
In the Homelands
In the homelands, Bluebeard was a powerful lord, who kept his own land free of wolves.[3] He was notorious for marrying women and then gutting them on their wedding night, then leaving their decaying corpses in his castle for later wives to find.
Following the invasion of the Adversary's armies, Bluebeard used his swan boat to help ferry refugees from the keep at world's end through a portal to the mundane world, in exchange for exhorbitant prices.[4] He was among the few Fables that made it to the mundane world with his fortunes intact.
Fabletown
In modern New York City, Bluebeard took up residence in the Woodlands community in Fabletown, along with his goblin butler Hobbes. His previous matrimonial murders, his extracting payments for ferrying refugees, and all other crimes were pardoned when he signed the Fabletown charter and the General Amnesty. He was wealthy enough to purchase a magical enchantment to fit his entire castle inside one of The Woodland's fourth floor apartments.[5]
Engaged
Bluebeard met and became attracted to Rose Red, who was at the time the girlfriend of Jack. One year, Rose and Jack had a very public argument and falling out, and that year Rose attended the Remembrance Day celebration as Bluebeard's date. Bluebeard asked her to marry him and she accepted, as long as Bluebeard paid her a considerable dowry in advance, and then waited a full year before revealing their engagement.[5] Unbeknownst to Bluebeard, this was merely a ploy by Rose and Jack to obtain funding for one of Jack's schemes, and she had no intention of marrying Bluebeard.
Nearly a year later, Rose Red and Jack did not have enough money to repay Bluebeard's dowry so they faked Rose's death in order to get out of the contract.[6] Jack was subsequently arrested by Bigby Wolf,[7] and rumour spread around Fabletown that Jack had killed Rose Red after an argument. When Bluebeard heard a particularly ghastly version of the rumour from Cinderella,[5] he infiltrated Bigby's jail cell and tried to torture Jack into confessing. He was prevented from this by Bigby, who arrested Bluebeard instead.[3]
Bigby allowed Bluebeard to attend the Remembrance Day celebration, and he was present when Bigby solved the case and revealed that Rose Red was still alive.[8] He was paid back his dowry and his engagement to Rose Red was cancelled by Snow White, ostensibly because Bluebeard had violated the contract by revealing the engagement before the full year had passed.[6]
Goldilocks' revolution
Bluebeard was part of the posse gathered by Bigby who accompanied Boy Blue to the Farm to rescue Snow White and Rose Red, and supplied the red sports car they used to get there.[9] He assisted Prince Charming in conducting the war crime trail and passing judgement on the rebels.[10]
Tommy Sharp affair
Bluebeard joined Bigby and other Fables in covering up the existence of Fables from being revealed by newspaper journalist Tommy Sharp. Bluebeard wanted simply to kill the reporter, and even tried to convince Jack to help him,[11] but Bigby prevented him from doing so, calling him a coward and humiliating him at the same time, and in this brief moment Bluebeard showed an emotional response unseen before in Fable by quietly shedding a tear at Bigby's words. This led Bluebeard to develop a hateful grudge against Bigby and a plan to "remove him once and for all". Once Bigby was able to convince the reporter to conceal his own investigation and destroy his research, Bluebeard secretly killed him anyway to make sure the case was not reopened.[12]
Death
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Prince Charming stabbing Bluebeard.
Bluebeard took Goldilocks, who had been one of the instigators of the rebellion on the Farm and was at the time the most wanted Fable in Fabletown, as his lover. He hired her to kill Bigby Wolf and Snow White, using an enchanted object to put them under a spell and travel to Washington state.[13]
When Prince Charming discovered he was plotting to kill Snow and Bigby, Charming challenged Bluebeard to a duel and killed him.[14] He then wrapped up Bluebeard's body and dropped it down the Witching Well. As Bluebeard had not written a will, all of his estate was transferred to Fabletown itself. Prince Charming moved into his old apartment and took on Hobbes as his own manservant.[15]
Back in the Homelands
When Ambrose (aka Flycatcher) went down the Witching Well to the dead land below, Bluebeard was one of the ghostly fables that decided to follow him to a new land. Ambrose accepted Bluebeard into his service, along with Shere Khan, despite knowing that the two of them planned to betray him.[16] On the journey out of the wastelands, Bluebeard ingratiated himself to the prince by acting as one of his litter carriers.[17]
Once they arrived at Ambrose's new kingdom, Haven, Bluebeard and Shere Khan prepared to overthrow Ambrose and rule Haven themselves. However, Bluebeard preferred to plan their next move cautiously, and Shere Khan grew impatient with the delays. Accusing Bluebeard of cowardice, Shere Khan killed him again, returning him to ghostly form, and started to eat his corpse. When Ambrose found them both, he returned Shere Khan to ghostly form as well and exiled both of them for their treachery. In response, Bluebeard and Shere Khan sought out the Empire, offering to lead General Hildebrand's army to Haven in exchange for being granted new flesh and blood bodies by the Empire's warlocks.[18] After leading the army to Haven, Bluebeard and Shere Khan were brought to the Imperial City, for repeated treatments to restore their bodies. However, progress proved to be slow and even after months of treatment Bluebeard could only lift a cup for less than a minute.[19]
His current status along with Shere Khan after the fall of the Empire is unknown.
Personality
Bluebeard is incredibly wealthy, being one of the very few Fables who managed to escape the Homelands with his wealth intact, having charged a high price in order to ferry Fables to the mundane world. He was absolved of any wrongdoing in this area by the General Amnesty,[5] but Bigby Wolf believed that Bluebeard continued to extort money out of the Fables he had rescued long after signing the Amnesty, but was unable to prove it.[20]
Bluebeard is a callous, cruel, insane, brutal, sadistic, snide, snooty, sarcastic, snobbish, wicked, narcissistic, manipulative, misogynistic, hedonistic, self-serving, sociopathic, and arrogant businessman and politician who is more than willing to perform morally questionable acts, or rather horrendous crimes if he believes it necessary, including torture[3] and even killing, all for the sake of his own power-hungry and exploitative goals. However, Bigby Wolf has claimed that, though Bluebeard is happy to kill people that cannot fight back, he is too much of a coward to face a real opponent on equal terms.[12]
Bluebeard collects vast amounts of priceless artwork and antiques, which fill up his apartment at The Woodland. He lives in a fourth floor apartment, which are usually quite small, but he was able to afford a magical enchantment to fit his entire castle inside the apartment.[5]
Physical appearance
Bluebeard has a bald head and a tightly cropped beard, which is very dark blue, practically black. He wears an earring in his right ear and narrow-framed, browline glasses.
Powers and abilities
Powers
- Immortality: Like all Fables, Bluebeard has a caliber of immortality allegedly based on how well-known he is among Mundies.
Abilities
- Adept swordsman: Bluebeard is an extremely talented swordsman, and was a fencing instructor in Fabletown. He was a guest instructor at the Chateau d'If Fencing Academy[13] as well as privately tutoring individuals such as Cinderella.[5]
Weaknesses
Bluebeard has the conventional weaknesses of any Fable.
Killed Victims
- Numerous counts of his wives
- Tommy Sharp
Original source
Bluebeard is known as the title character of the fairy tale of the same name, an oral folktale first written down and published by French author Charles Perraultin 1697.[21] In the original tale, Bluebeard is a wealthy aristocrat with a blue beard, who has married several times but whose wives all vanished without trace. He marries a young girl and takes her back to his chateau to live with him. One day, he announces that he is going to leave, and gives her all the keys to his castle, including one room that he forbids her to enter. Nevertheless, she does enter on the urging of her sister, and inside she discovers the butchered bodies of Bluebeard's former wives. When Bluebeard returns he discovers what she has done and intends to kill her, but gives her a short while to say her prayers first. In this time, his wife's brothers break into the castle and kill Bluebeard, saving their sister. All of Bluebeard's wealth then passes to his wife.
References
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